Nick Suzuki scored the winning goal during a power play 48 seconds into overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night at the Bell Centre.
If the decisive goal went to the captain of the Canadian, who also obtained two assists, the spark plug for the Habs will have been Lane Hutson, author of a goal and two assists, all from the third period.
He first contributed to the goal of Kirby Dach (6th), early in the third period during a power play which made the score 3-3.
Less than five minutes later, he gave the Habs the lead when from the left corner of the ice, he directed a puck towards the front of the goal. The disc hit the right skate of Quinn Hughes before branching into the net.
“I definitely wasn’t trying to shoot on net. I saw (Emil) Heineman in front of the goal and I tried to send him the puck. Sometimes you take advantage of a lucky jump, and there is no doubt that it was a lucky jump,” admitted the young defender.
Then, in overtime, he behaved like a conductor during a penalty to Nils Hoglander that he himself had caused with around thirty seconds remaining in the third period.
“It was easier in overtime, four against three, because there is more space. ‘Suzi’ is dangerous in overtime, and he made a good shot.”
Hutson performed in front of Hughes, another talented American defenseman, who also obtained two assists in his return to play after a four-game absence.
Hutson also paid him a nice tribute after the match.
“I have so much respect for the way he plays, his intelligence. I could describe for a long time how good he is.”
Cole Caufield (22nd) and Kaiden Guhle (3rd) also beat Kevin Lankinen, who faced 24 shots.
JT Miller led the Canucks’ offense with a pair of goals, his seventh and eighth of the season, and two assists.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki (2nd) and Jake DeBrusk (17th) also deceived the vigilance of Samuel Montembeault, who blocked 16 pucks.
Returning to the Bell Center after a successful stay abroad, the Canadian experienced a slump at the start of the second period, but he had the merit of recovering from it.
“I think we are resilient. We have confidence in the way we do things, and it’s not a play that will bring us back into the match. It’s simply to continue to do simple things, repeatedly,” said head coach Martin St-Louis, who liked the performance of his players in the first period, then from the second half of the second period .
After its great successes on the road during the holiday period, the Habs will return to play abroad, but for just one game, Friday against the Washington Capitals.
The next day, the Canadian will return to his stronghold to face another strong rival, the Dallas Stars.
Shock and goal!
We could say that the Canadian started the meeting with a bang, and exaggerating the onomatopoeia a little, with two!
There were only 45 seconds left in the game when Guhle welcomed Lekkerimäki by hitting him solidly at the Canucks blue line, to the point of making the 20-year-old Swede lose the puck.
Methodically, the Canadian relaunched the attack from deep in his territory, and only 22 seconds after Guhle’s impactful check, Caufield created a bang in his own way.
With a wrist shot from the top of the slot, Caufield beat Lankinen after accepting a precise pass from Juraj Slafkovsky.
The Canadian players continued to impose themselves physically in the first half of the period, but not enough to disturb their rivals and prevent them from creating a tie.
Center JT Miller (9), of the Vancouver Canucks, scoring his second goal of the evening. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)
At 10:47, Miller started his great offensive evening by beating Montembeault with a one-timer from the top of the slot as well, after Hoglander had won his battle with Hutson along the ramp.
From there, the great anger that the Canadiens players had displayed gradually dissipated, and it only returned in the second half of the second period.
Habs fans had to wait for nearly 10 minutes before seeing their favorites test Lankinen in the second period.
About a minute after that first shot, Guhle found the back of the net with a wrist shot, which slipped past a few players from both teams and into the net.
This goal only brought the Canadian back into the game, because the Canucks had time to score twice in 20 seconds, early in the period.
Posted at the mouth of the net, Miller added his second of the evening by taking advantage of the return of a shot from Lekkerimäki.
Then, at 3:41, Lekkerimäki made it 3-1 by beating Montembeault with a stick-side wrist shot that the Canadian goaltender might have liked to see again.
After goals from Dach and Hutson in the third period, the Canucks took advantage of a bad penalty from Caufield to tie the score thanks to DeBrusk.
It was in overtime that everything would be resolved in favor of the Habs with, once again, Hutson at the center of the action.
